The Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía is a majestic building designed by the Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava. Its sculpted form is highly symbolic, looking like a ship stranded in the old riverbed of the Turia River. This monumental landmark has become a dynamic feature of the urban area.
The innovative architecture of this forty thousand square metre building, seventy-five metres high, accommodates four venues for opera, music, ballet, theatre, receptions and conferences.
Platforms project at different levels with passage ways and Mediterranean gardens. Access to the different areas is provided by means of panoramic lifts and staircases situated inside the porcelain sides of the building. The contrast between the opaque porcelain and the glass foyers produce ever-changing sensations when walking about the theatre.
The metal feather planted at the main entrance seems to float over the structure. Only one point of support sustains the plume over the almond-shaped building, leaving the eastern end of the feather floating in mid-air, defying gravity.
Fine white concrete covers the large metal structural supports of the building, while broken mosaic tile (trencadís) has been used to decorate the outer shells, walls and reflecting pools of the Palau.
The Palau is surrounded by more than sixty thousand square metres of gardens, pathways, and eleven thousand square metres of water in the reflecting pools below. An elevated footbridge, fifty-six metres long, situated at the western end of the building can be reached by two different stairways leading to the Main Entrance and Box Office. |
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